Houston Students To Be Honored In Commencement

Author, pastor, and prominent leader Mr. Wallace Henley will be the honored commencement speaker this year. Henley’s insight and wisdom have come through a career of more than 40 years that has included service in the Church, the White House, the U.S. Congress, and Academia.

He holds the Bachelor of Arts and the Master of Arts degree, focusing on leadership studies. Henley’s formal education was through Samford University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a joint MA program of Trinity Theological Seminary (USA)-Canterbury Christchurch University College (England).

Currently, Henley is senior associate pastor at Houston’s Second Baptist Church, a 69,000-member congregation led by Dr. Ed Young. He is also a columnist for The Christian Post and was a reporter and editor for The Birmingham News. Henley was a White House aide, 1970-1973, and helped design and implement the most sweeping school desegregation in American history.

From 1966 to 1968, Henley was director of public relations at the University of Mobile. He is now an adjunct professor of worldview studies at Belhaven University. He is a prolific author, having published more than 20 books. HarperCollins published Henley’s Globequake: Living in the Unshakeable Kingdom While the World Falls Apart in 2012. Henley is co-author with Jonathan Sandys, great-grandson of Winston Churchill, of God and Churchill: How the Great Leader’s Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours.

Wallace and Irene Henley married in 1961. Their daughter, Lauri, works in the Houston energy industry. The Henley’s son, Travis, is Vice President of Hewlett-Packard. Wallace and Irene have six grand-children and one great-grandchild. The Henleys have been Houston residents since 1986.

If you need further information, please contact Veronica Waller at vwaller@belhaven.edu or 281-579-9977.